GENERAL  WILLIAM  RUFFIN  COX 

ARMY  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA 


DELIVERED  BEFORE 

TheOakwood  Memorial  Association 


Richmond,  Va.,  May  10,  1911 


STEPHEN  B„  WEEKS 

CLASS  OF  1886;  PH.D.  THE  JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY 


OIF  TOE 

OMVERSOY  OF  MM1 CARDUNA 
WE  WEEKS  OTJLEOTON 

OF 


Cp9to.t4-e^t 


ADDRESS 


BY 

GENERAL  WILLIAM  RUFFIN  COX 

ARMY  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA 


DELIVERED  BEFORE 


The  Oakwood  Memorial  Association 


Richmond,  Va.,  May  10,  1911 


RICHMOND: 

F    J    MITCHELL  PRINTINfi  CORP 

602  E    MAIN  ST 


HONORS  ARE  PAID  DEAD 
WAR  HEROES. 


GENERAL  COX  PRAISES  BRAVE  MEN  OF  BOTH 
SIDES— A  NOTABLE  PARADE. 

Paying  annual  tribute  to  the  Confederate  dead  who  lie 
beneath  the  sod  of  Oakwood,  the  largest  gathering  of  its  kind  in 
recent  years  took  part  yesterday  afternoon  in  the  exercises  of  the 
Oakwood  Memorial  Association.  Though  the  ceremonies  were 
directly  under  control  of  the  association  and  R.  E.  Lee  Camp  of 
Confederate  Veterans,  all  Confederate  societies  of  the  city  were 
represented  in  the  parade  that  wound  into  the  cemetery  shortly 
after  4  o'clock.  Long  before  that  time  the  cemetery  was  throng- 
ed with  people  and  the  parade  passing  along  the  flag-marked 
walk  to  the  speaker's  stand  marched  between  two  almost  solid 
walls   of   humanity. 

After  the  salutes  had  been  fired  from  the  rifles  of  the  First 
Regiment  and  the  cannon  of  the  Richmond  Howitzers,  the  line 
was  reformed  and  marched  towards  the  river  as  the  faint  sound 
of  taps  floated  from  the  band  stand.  At  the  Old  Dominion  wharf 
the  floral  flag  slipped  from  the  deck  of  the  city  tug  Thomas  Cun- 
ningham, Sr.;  again  the  Howitzers'  cannon  boomed  a  salute,  and 
as  darkness  was  falling  another  sound  of  taps  came  plaintively 
from  the  base  of  the  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Monument  on  Libby 
Hill. 

GENERAL   COX   SPEAKS. 

General  William  Ruffin  Cox,  of  North  Carolina,  the  orator 
of  the  day,  was  introduced  by  Mayor  D.  C.  Richardson.  He 
was  not  a  native  of  the  State,  the  Mayor  said,  but  no  Virginian 
had  ever  rendered  more  valiant  service  on  its  soil,  he  having  been 
wounded  five  times  at  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville,  besides 
serving  with  the  greatest  distinction  in  many  other  engagements. 


0* 


Though  he  recounted  many  incidents  reflecting  the  bravery, 
self-sacrifice  and  patriotism  of  the  men  and  women  of  the  Confe- 
deracy, General  Cox's  speech  was  one  that  breathed  the  peace 
and  prosperity  of  a  reunited  country.  He  spoke  with  the  utmost 
calmness  and  impartiality  of  the  men  who  fought  for  what  they 
believed  right  under  both  flags,  and  reminded  his  hearers  that 
even  during  the  most  trying  times  of  the  struggle  there  never  was 
any  personal  animosity  between  the  brave  men  of  the  South  and 
the  brave  men  of  the  North.  He  himself  had  fought  along  with 
the  rest  for  what  he  considered  right.  Now  that  it  was  all  over,  he 
rejoiced  that  every  section  answered  to  the  call  of  the  common 
flag;  that  two  of  the  most  famous  living  Confederate  generals  had 
taken    conspicuous   places. 

The  invocation  was  offered  by  Rev.  James  Power  Smith,  D. 
D.,  and  the  benediction  pronounced  by  Rev.  R.  A.  Goodwin, 
rector  of  St.  John's  Episcopal  Church.  Hymns  and  old  war 
songs  were  rendered  by  the  High  School  chorus  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Professor   Harwood. 

IMPOSING  PARADE. 

The  parade  was  mobilized  by  Chief  Marshal  W.  B.  Freeman 
at  the  corner  of  Twenty-fifth  and  Broad  streets  at  3 :30  o'clock. 
First  in  line  was  the  chief  marshal  and  staff  and  mounted  police, 
followed  by  R.  E.  Lee  Camp,  Confederate  Veterans,  the  First 
Regiment  and  band,  the  Richmond  Howitzers  and  carriages  con- 
taining members  of  the  various  Confederate  organizations.  The 
line  of  march  lay  along  Broad  street  to  Oakwood  avenue  and 
thence  to  the  cemetery.  At  the  gates,  the  detachment  of  mount- 
ed police  under  Sergeant  Sowell  formed  on  one  side  of  the  avenue 
and  the  chief  marshal  and  staff  on  the  other,  leaving  the  parade 
to  pass  through  with  Lee  Camp  at  its  head.  Here  George  E. 
Pickett  Camp,  Confederate  Veterans,  was  waiting  and  Jell  in  be- 
hind Lee  Camp.  In  this  order,  they  passed  around  the  speakers' 
stand,  where  orders  to  break  ranks  were  given. 

The  march  to  the  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Monument  was  in 
the  same  order.  Only  the  band  and  members  of  the  several  as- 
sociations went  as  far  as  the  wharf.  The  military  stood  at  at- 
tention on  the  brow  of  the  hill  until  the  sound  of  the  cannon  died 
away. 


The  Southern  Cause  Noble  and  Just 


The  South  in  the  Making  of  the  Nation — This  Now 

a  Reunited  Country — The  Odds  Against  the 

Confederacy — Virginia's  Immortal 

Place 

BY  WILLIAM  RUFFIN  COX, 

Brigadier-General,  C.  S.  A. 

(The  following  is  the  oration  delivered  on  Memorial  Day  at 
Oakwood   Cemetery,    May    10,    1911): 

It  fills  me  with  a  noble  pride  to  appear  before  you  on  this 
occasion  under  the  auspices  of  the  patriotic  Oakwood  Memorial 
Association,  and  to  co-operate  with  you  in  doing  honor  to  those 
who,  for  four  long  weary  years,  upheld  the  fortunes  of  the  young 
Confederacy  upon  the  points  of  their  glittering  bayonets  until 
the  world  was  filled  with  their  fame. 

It  also  gives  me  pleasure  to  know  that  these  beautiful  mem- 
orial services  were  originated  by  the  ministering  womanhood  of 
this,  our  Southland,  and  that  to-day  similar  celebrations  are 
being  observed  throughout  the  South.  Not  only  here,  but  in 
many  portions  of  the  North,  where  our  friends  have  gone  to  seek 
their  fortunes,  like  observances  are  taking  place,  and  in  some 
localities  the  Blue  and  the  Gray  are  united  in  paying  honor  to 
those  who  fell  in  the  War  Between  the  States,  for  between  the 
brave  soldiers  of  the  North  and  the  South  there  was  never  any 
personal  antagonism  during  this  long  and  bloody  struggle. 

You  will  bear  in  mind  that  the  shield  which  was  erected  at 
the  cross  roads  was  on  one  side  painted  white  and  on  the  other 
side  black.  Those  who  approached  it  from  the  dark  side  declared 
it  was  black,  while  those  beholding  it  from  the  other  side  declared 
it  was  white.  So  in  the  late  war,  it  depended  from  which  side 
the  question  was  viewed  as  to  where  the  duty  lay.  The  North 
thought  they  were  right;  the  South  believed  that  they  were  right. 


Both  were  equally  brave,  equally  determined  to  uphold  the  cause 
they  espoused,  with  their  lives  if  need  be.  To-day  the  cause  of 
estrangement  being  removed,  each  one  recognizes  the  fact  that 
we  are'  all  [Americans,  and  equally  proud  of  our  great  country; 
and  when  she  needs  our  services,  it  matters  not  from  what  sec- 
tion the  call  may  come,  the  response  will  be,  in  the  language  of 
Decatur,  "Our  country;  may  she  always  be  in  the  right;  but  our 
country,  right  or  wrong." 

The  war  over,  nations  not  familiar  with  the  facts  sincerely 
believed  the  estrangements  still  existed.  Spain  so  thought  when 
we  desired  her  to  lighten  the  oppressions  she  was  then  inflicting 
upon  Cuba,  and  was  encouraged  to  resist  our  demand  under  the 
mistaken  belief  that  should  war  ensue  she  would  have  the  sym- 
pathy of  the  South.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  an  old,  grizzled 
Confederate  general  on  the  heights  of  El  Caney  who  moved  the 
American  army  to  hold  their  lines  until  the  troops  of  Spain  were 
overcome. 

It  is  gratifying  for  us  to  know  that  the  highest  position  in 
this  government,  not  excepting  the  presidency  itself,  is  filled  by 
a  once-private  Confederate  soldier — the  position  regulated  and 
established  by  the  great  Chief  Justice  Marshall  and  adorned  by 
another  Southerner,  Chief  Justice  Taney.  The  world  has  never 
known  braver,  more  intelligent  nor  more  superb  soldiers  than 
those  of  the  North  and  South  during  the  War  Between  the  States, 
and  if  superiority  must  be  claimed,  the  fact  that  with  600,000 
men  the  South  successfully  struggled  against  2,700,000  foes,  and 
resisted  their  invasions  for  four  years,  the  laurel  must  be  awarded 
to  her  soldiers.  At  last,  not  to  superiority  of  arms,  but  from 
hunger  and  overwhelming  numbers,  at  Appomattox  they  yielded 
up  their  arms,  their  hearts  even  then  resolute  and  determined  to 
continue  the  struggle,  but  their  eyes  bedewed  with  tears  that  for- 
tune had  deserted  them.  Where  else  can  we  find  soldiers  who 
have  displayed  such  a  devotion  to  duty?  It  arose  from  confi- 
dence in  that  leader  who  often  led  them  to  victory,  but  never  to 
defeat. 

Here  I  am  reminded  of  a  bit  of  humor,  perpetrated  by  Mr. 
Lincoln  when  an  anxious  father  who  had  two  sons  in  the  North- 


ern  army  inquired  of  him  how  many  troops  Mr.  Davis  had.  He 
promptly   responded,    "Three   million   men." 

His  questioner  in  amazement  asked,  "How  do  you  know 
that  fact,  Mr.  President?"  "Why,"  exclaimed  Lincoln,  "Mc- 
Clellan  around  Richmond  declared  he  was  overwhelmed  by  su- 
perior numbers.  Grant,  at  Shiloh,  declared  he  was  greatly  out- 
numbered. Pope  said  the  Confederates  had  five  to  one.  I 
know  I  have  a  million  soldiers  in  the  field,  and  if  our  armies  have 
been  so  greatly  outnumbered,  why,  of  course,  the  Confederates 
must    have    three    million." 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  Northern  commanders,  in  view  of 
the  achievements  of  the  Confederates  upon  the  battlefield,  espec- 
ially during  the  early  part  of  the  war,  should  have  been  so  for- 
cibly impressed  with  the  apparently  overwhelming  numbers  of 
their  adversaries.  Like  the  blast  of  the  bugle  of  Roderick  Dhu, 
the  presence  alone  of  Stonewall  Jackson  was  worth  ten  thousand 
men. 

In  the  Valley  of  Virginia  this  incomparable  soldier  met  the 
three  concentrating  corps  of  the  enemy.  First  he  struck  Shields, 
and  after  a  severe  engagement  retired.  They  said  he  was  lost. 
Turning  back,  he  met  Banks,  whom  he  defeated.  Then  he  was 
lost  again.  Again  turning  back,  he  defeated  Fremont's  corps, 
and  was  lost  again;  but  while  they  went  towards  Washington, 
he  came  toward  Richmond  with  his  18,000  heroes,  accompanied 
by  a  wagon  train  twenty  miles  long,  filled  with  commissary  stores 
and  hospital  supplies  much  needed  for  the  Confederate  army. 

We  could  well  afford  that  he  should  be  so  lost.  In  addition 
he  so  alarmed  the  political  powers  at  Washington  as  to  cause  the 
retention  of  McDowell,  with  70,000  troops,  for  the  protection  of 
the  capital. 

The  war  over,  the  Southern  soldiers  turned  with  sad  and 
brave  hearts  to  their  desolated  homes.  Their  family  altars  had 
been  overthrown;  the  fields  had  grown  up;  they  were  without 
money  and  the  means  to  commence  the  struggle  of  life  again. 
To  the  surprise  of  the  outside  world,  they  did  not  sit  down  by  the 
rivers  and  weep,  as  they  remembered  the  prosperity  of  former 
days ;  but  bravely  determined  to  begin  life  anew,  and  they  accom- 
plished results  gratifying  to  every  true  man,  North  or  South. 


8 

Their  magnificent,  varied  climate  and  productive  soil  responded 
generously  to  labor.  They  moved  onward  bravely  in  the  struggle 
for  life,  as  in  war  they  had  fought  fearlessly  for  weary  years. 

Here  it  may  not  be  inappropriate  to  mention  what  Virginia, 
grand  and  imperial,  has  done  for  our  great  country.  Familiar  as 
the  facts  may  be,  they  cannot  be  too  often  repeated.  When  the 
conflict  began  against  the  infant  colonies  for  the  freedom  of  this 
fair  land  she  gave  to  America — aye,  to  the  world — one  of  the 
grandest  men  known  in  the  tide  of  time.  I  need  not  mention  his 
name.  The  great  poet  Byron  says:  "His  name  will  be  a  watch- 
word for  freedom  while  breath  is  left  to  echo  it."  Phillips,  a 
great  crator  across  the  water,  declared  he  was  a  boon  of  Provi- 
dence to  the  human  race,  that  no  one  people  could  claim  him,  and 
he  surpassed  all  the  great  leaders  of  the  world.  In  victory  he 
was  great. 

Virginia  also  gave  the  world  his  twin  brother  in  grandeur, 
our  peerless  leader  who  in  pursuing  his  struggle  for  the  South 
was  not  only  great  when  the  tide  of  victory  arose  in  our  favor,  but 
probably  greater  still  in  the  hour  of  defeat.  The  pages  of  history 
will  be  scanned  in  vain  to  discove'r  the  equal  of  the  peerless  Lee  in 
the   hour   of   adversity. 

The  great  Bill  of  Rights  formulated  by  your  Mason  in  our 
Revolutionary  struggle,  now  deposited  in  your  State  Library, 
was  the  most  formidable  measure  presented  during  that  time. 
The  first  declaration  for  our  rights  and  emancipation  from  Great 
Britain  was  presented  by  your  Colonial  Legislature. 

The  great  Declaration  of  Independence  was  drawn  by  a  Vir- 
ginian. The  great  Northwest  was  conquered  by  Virginia  militia 
during  the  administration  of  Governor  Henry,  the  man  who,  in 
old  St.  John's  Church  in  your  city,  made  that  great  speech,  which 
thrilled  and  aroused  the  hearts  of  our  struggling  patriots  that  he 
would  have  "liberty  or  death."  After  seven  long  years  of  con- 
test peace  was  declared.     A  peace  that  meant  a  new  nation. 

The  colonies  were  separated ;  the  ravages  of  war  and  the  de- 
struction of  property  left  them  greatly  impoverished;  poverty 
as  usual,  brings  with  it  discontent.  Enemies  were  fermenting 
dissentions,  and  the  question  arose,  how  was  it  possible  to  make 
a  united  people?    Virginia  then,  generous  as  she  has  always  been, 


magnanimously  came  forward,  and  instead  of,  like  Brennus, 
throwing  her  sword  into  the  balance  to  assert  her  rights,  she 
magnanimously  said  to  her  sister  colonies,  "Take  this  great 
territory,  which  is  my  own,  to  relieve  your  necessities;  your  coun- 
try shall  be  my  country,  and  we  will  stand  together  as  friends, 
and  not  apart  as  strangers." 

The  Union  was  formed.  The  autonomy  of  the  States  was 
established,  and  the  government  moved  on  in  the  road  of  success, 
until  made  too  confident  by  her  prosperity,  from  time  to  time 
mutterings  of  discontent  and  threats  of  dissolution  were  prevail- 
ing throughout  the  land. 

Who,  then,  should  question  Virginia's  right  to  be  known  as 
the  Mother  of  States  and  of  Statesmen?  With  so  small  a  popu- 
lation as  she  then  possessed,  the  question  which  has  puzzled  man- 
kind was  how  she  could  furnish  within  so  small  a  country  such  a 
galaxy  of  distinguished  rulers;  take  charge  of  the  government 
after  the  restoration  of  peace,  and  for  the  period  of  thirty-six 
years — with  the  intermission  of  four — supply  the  country  with 
presidents  and  leading  public  men;  thus  unifying  the  government 
until  partisanship  had  virtually  disappeared.  The  researches  of 
historians  discover  that  prominent  among  your  people  were  nu- 
merous descendents  of  the  dominating  Anglo-Saxon  race,  a  race 
that  declared  "resistance  to  tyrants  was  obedience  to  God." 
That  wrested  from  a  reluctant  King  at  Runnymede,  the  great 
Magna  Charta!  That  executed  Charles  the  First  for  the  in- 
vasion of  their  rights;  that  gave  to  mankind  the  examples  of  a 
Hampton,  a  Marlborough,  a  Chatham,  a  Burke,  the  Virgin  Queen 
for  whom  this  State  is  named,  and  many  other  illustrious  ex- 
amples. 

Why  then,  not  ascribe  her  ascendency  in  the  colonial  strug- 
gles, to  that  ancestry  that  "doth  hedge  a  King?"  It  is  not  sur- 
prising, therefore,  that  Virginia,  with  sorrow  and  regret,  should 
view  the  unnatural  contention  among  the  States  of  the  Union 
which  she  felt  assured  must  ultimately  result  in  an  effort  at  dis- 
solution. Occupying  as  she  did  a  position,  which  in  the  event  of 
war  would  make  her  the  Flanders  of  America,  she  did  all  she  could 
to   prevent   this   unrelenting  struggle. 

Time  and  again  she  voted  against  the  ordinance  of  secession, 


10 

and  the  sister  State,  North  Carolina,  stood  watchful  and  faithful 
by  her  side.  Even  when  the  cause  of  pacification  seemed  hope- 
less, at  the  instance  of  her  most  distinguished  citizen,  once  a  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States,  a  peace  conference  was  suggested  and 
met  in  Washington,  in  the  hope  that  the  dire  disaster  of  a  Civil 
War  might  be  averted.  The  surging  passions  roused  by  agita- 
tors North  and  South,  who,  in  the  words  of  another,  were  "in- 
visible in  war  and  invincible  in  peace,"  continued  to  inflame  sec- 
tional discontent,  so  that  while  Virginia  might  cry,  "Peace I 
Peace!"  there  was  no  peace.  Therefore  when  she  was  called  upon 
by  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  furnish  troops  to  make 
war  upon  her  sister  States  she  said,  "No;  if  compelled  to  fight,  I 
will  unite  my  fortunes  with  my  friends  of  the  South  rather  with 
those  who  invade  her  soil."  Who,  then,  at  this  day  can  but  see 
she  acted  as  her  honor,  her  manhood  and  her  self-respect  dictated t 
and  averted  a  fate  which  overtook  other  border  States  who  en- 
deavored in  vain  to  remain  neutral. 

The  institution  of  American  slavery,  which,  if  not  the  cause,, 
was  the  occasion  of  the  War  Between  the  States,  and  which  so 
long  vexed  the  patience  of  the  pseudo-philanthropists  of  Old  and 
New  England,  was  introduced  by  those  governments  into  the 
Colonies  against  the  protest  of  Virginia.  This  State  from  the 
outset  opposed  its  introduction,  and  so  late  as  1831,  in  a  conven- 
tion comprised  of  her  ablest  men,  ex-presidents,  ex-governors,, 
etc.,  was  called  together  for  the  consideration  of  the  emancipa- 
tion of  the  slaves.  After  an  able  and  exhaustive  consideration  of 
the  subject,  the  abolition  of  the  slaves  was  refused  by  but  one 
vote.  What  was  to  be  done  with  the  emancipated  negro  race, 
living  in  close  conjunction  with  whites,  was  the  most  formidable 
argument  against  emancipation.  They  could  but  consider  that 
Spain,  after  a  long  and  bloody  war,  had  defeated  and  expelled  the 
Moors  from  her  dominions,  and  from  that  time  commenced  the 
decay  of  that  hitherto  formidable  nation.  France  for  over  a  cen- 
tury had  not  recovered  from  the  expulsion  of  the  Huguenot,  and 
England,  after  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  from  her  far-off 
colony  of  Jamaica,  found  that  this  fruitful,  tropical  island  fell 
rapidly  into  decay,  from  which  it  has  never  recovered  unto  this 
day. 


11 

From  climate  and  production  New  England  found  the  insti- 
tution unprofitable,  and  by  prospective  legislation  shifted  the 
onerous  burden  upon  her  Southern  sisters. 

It  was  not  believed  that  the  negro  and  white  races  could 
possibly  live  on  terms  of  amity  and  friendship  after  the  freedom 
of    the    slaves. 

Virginia  had  the  experience  of  the  uprising  of  the  negroes  in 
San  Domingo,  and  the  domination  of  the  inferior  negro  race  with 
its  resultant  evils;  and  the  Nat  Turner  insurrection  within  the 
borders  of  Virginia,  with  all  its  horrors,  was  continually  before 
the  eyes  of  the  people. 

For  a  time  it  was  supposed  the  colonization  of  Liberia  and 
gradual  emancipation  might  possibly  prove  a  satisfactory  solu- 
tion of  this  formidable  question.  Some  benevolent  citizens  of 
this  State  had  their  slaves  taught  trades  and  educated,  to  their 
own  impoverishment,  and  having  sent  these  people  to  the  colony, 
the  cry  came  back  that  neither  the  climate  nor  the  prevailing 
institutions  were  suited  to  their  conditions.  On  the  contrary, 
they  were  unable  to  find  employment  or  subsistence.  "Send  us 
food  and  clothing  or  we  perish"  came  in  imploring  appeals  from 
them.  In  the  language  of  another,  we  had  brought  the  negro 
from  Africa  a  barbarian  and  pagan,  and  we  had  made  him  a  Chris- 
tian and  a  citizen.  Notwithstanding  the  cries  of  the  barbarity  of 
slavery  to  which  this  amiable  race  submissively  and  uncomplain- 
ingly submitted,  it  seems  a  much  greater  hardship  to  expel  him 
from  lifelong  friendship  and  association  and  drive  him  back  to  a 
condition  to  which  he  had  become  so  unsuited.  Mr.  Lincoln, 
General  Grant  and  other  able  men  of  the  North  and  of  the  South 
sincerely  believed  the  two  races,  with  the  negro  emancipated, 
could  not  live  at  peace  in  the  same  country,  and  therefore  they 
thought  the  acquisition  of  the  island  of  San  Domingo  or  other 
tropical  localities  indispensable  as  a  place  for  their  coloniza- 
tion. 

The  invention  of  the  cotton  gin  by  an  ingenious  Connecticut 
Yankee,  had  made  the  production  of  cotton  a  most  profitable  in- 
vestment, from  which  Old  England  and  New  England,  through 
the  manufacturing  of  this  staple  derived  far  more  profit  than  the 
owner  of  slaves  did  from  the  production  of  the  raw  material. 


12 

But  the  supposed  wisdom  of  man  proved  in  the  presence  of  the 
Wisdom  from  on  High  the  folly  of  human  foresight. 

The  Southern  States,  which  during  the  war  had  been  so  near 
to  gaining  their  independence,  were  destined  in  the  end  to  fail. 
It  seems  to  me  it  was  this  same  Wisdom  from  on  High  that  caused 
the  Indians  on  this  continent  to  be  superceded  by  a  superior  race; 
that  brought  the  African  barbarian  to  be  taught  by  the  Christian 
white  man,  ultimately  to  result  in  his  enlightenment;  and  the 
Christianization  of  darkest  Africa.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the 
shackles  of  bondage  are  stricken  off;  the  speculations  of  our 
wisest  publicists  have  but  proved  the  limits  of  human  foresight. 

The  foremost  man  of  the  negro  race  was  born  a  slave  in  Vir- 
ginia, and,  looking  to  their  future  good,  he  advises  the  people  of 
his  race  to  remain  contented  among  their  former  owners  and  en- 
gage in  the  cultivation  of  our  productive  soil,  for  which  they  had 
hitherto  shown  their  greatest  adaptibility,  instead  of  going  off 
and  seeking  a  home  in  an  uncongenial  climate  and  among  people 
by  whom  they  are  not  understood. 

The  result  is  that  this  much-abused  and  misrepresented  slave- 
holder and  his  descendants,  by  the  aid  of  the  negroes,  are  raising 
a  single  standard  staple,  which  with  its  products  and  by-products 
is  now  worth  over  $800,000,000  annually,  which  enables  this  gov- 
ernment to  balance  its  trade  with  the  Old  World.  Phoenix  like, 
the  South  has  arisen  from  her  ashes.  Within  her  borders  her 
laborers  are  contented ;  strikes  and  conflicts  between  capital  and 
labor  are  practically  unknown,  while  content  pervades  her  realms. 
What  are  her  sons  doing  towards  promoting  the  power  and  the 
happiness  of  this  greatest  government  the  world  ever  knew? 

When  the  war  with  Spain  was  flagrant  the  first  American 
blood,  shed  at  Cardenas,  was  that  of  a  fair  youth,  the  son  of  an 
ex-Confederate.  It  was  the  son  of  an  ex-Confederate,  who,  at 
the  risk  of  his  life,  penetrated  the  lines  of  the  enemy  and  secured 
the  information  most  valuable  to  this  government.  It  was  the 
son  of  an  ex-Confederate,  whose  father  surrendered  with  me  at 
Appomattox,  who  volunteered  to  fire  the  ships  of  Cevera,  thus 
causing  the  commander  of  fleet  to  come  forth,  and  made  possible 
the  destruction  of  the  same.  And  it  was  as  flag  bearer  of  Dewey  that 
a  Southern  youth  raised  the  Stars  and  Stripes  over  Manila  Bay. 


13 

During  the  present  administration  of  the  five  judges  called 
to  preside  over  one  of  the  greatest  tribunals  of  the  present  age, 
three  of  that  number  wore  the  gray.  The  Secretary  of  War  is  an 
ex-Confederate  soldier.  The  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives is  of  Southern  birth.  Should  I  attempt  to  enumerate 
all  the  positions  of  honor  and  usefulness  that  have  been  filled 
since  the  close  of  the  war  by  ex-Confederates  and  their  descend- 
ants, it  would  be  like  "piling  Ossa  upon  Pelion."  Therefore  I 
conclude  by  adding:  Virginia,  leaning  with  unmailed  hand  upon 
her  broken  staff,  may  say,  "Vidua  et  victor" — if  vanquished  I  am 
still  victorious.  For  while,  had  she  loved  honor  less,  she  might 
have  bent  the  hinges  of  the  knee  in  the  hope  that  thrift  might  fol- 
low fawning,  no  such  dishonor  blurs  her  name. 

The  feelings  of  those  who  participated  in  the  internecine 
struggle  between  the  States  cannot  be  entered  into  by  those  of  the 
present  generation.  To  us  it  is  a  grim  experience;  to  you  it  is  a 
fine  legend.  To  us  the  16,000  comrades  who  rest  beneath  the 
dew  and  sod  are  present  now.  The  Chimborazo  Hospital,  with 
its  accommodations  for  80,000  maimed  and  wounded  sufferers, 
looms  before  us.  The  strain  of  a  seven  days'  struggle  to  preserve 
your  capital,  which  resulted  in  the  loss  of  thirty-five  thous- 
and men;  the  Wilderness  campaign,  which,  according  to 
the  authority  of  Northern  historians,  caused  the  death  and 
disability  of  a  greater  number  of  the  Union  troops  than  consti- 
tuted the  total  of  Lee's  army  at  the  beginning  of  this  scene  of 
carnage,  are  part  of  its  glory.  The  achievements  of  our  com- 
mander in  anticipating  and  defeating,  with  his  reduced  numbers, 
any  movement  of  his  great  antagonist,  all  rise  up  before  us  upon 
this  impressive  occasion. 

The  long  blue  lines  seem  still  moving  forward  to  encounter 
the  gray,  the  resultant  daily  conflicts,  the  rush  of  artillery,  the 
regular  tramp  of  the  cavalry,  the  undying  steadiness  of  the  lines 
of  gray;  after  all,  the  Union  army  is  no  nearer  your  devoted  city 
than  it  might  have  been  by  supreme  strategy  and  comparatively 
small  loss  of  life.  Then  the  intrenchments  around  this  city  the 
vigilant  defense  of  them  against  overwhelming  numbers  of  well- 
supplied  soldiers  by  the  poorly-fed  and  less  comfortably  clad 
Confederates;  the  manning  of  forty  miles  of  breastworks  with 


14 

50,000  Confederates  against  the  ever-increasing  Union  troops, 
come  back  to  us  until  our  lines  of  supplies  being  ultimately  cut 
off,  we  are  compelled  to  withdraw.  All  these  things  rise  up 
vividly  before  us.  I  will  not  detain  you  in  recounting  the  scenes 
of  the  battlefields,  where  the  wounded  and  dying,  friends  and 
foes,  are  lying  in  close  proximity:  the  ardor  of  combat  over,  the 
hope  of  life  still  giving  courage  for  other  battles.  Let  us  draw  the 
veil  over  the  dismal  part  and  simply  add:  No  Confederate  ever 
occupied  a  place  in  your  hospital  but  felt  it  glory  enough  to  have 
struggled  to  protect  and  shield  such  womanhood  as  ministered 
out  of  its  very  necessity  to  the  wants  of  the  humblest  private 
soldier. 

With  a  pure,  incorruptible  womanhood — nation-builders — 
content  to  rule  and  be  ruled  by  orthodox  standards,  and  who 
prize  more  highly  the  jewels  of  noble  endeavor  planted  in  the 
hearts  and  minds  of  her  offspring  than  the  outward  adornment 
of  the  "guinea's  stamp,"  Virginia  is  still  rich. 

As  no  man  can  be  truly  great  who  has  not  a  good  mother,  in 
view  of  the  good  and  great  men  she  has  given  to  mankind,  as- 
suredly no  State  nor  people  has  had  more  grand  mothers  than 
this  old   Commonwealth. 

While  cherishing  the  memories  of  the  past,  we  look  not  to 
things  that  are  behind,  but  press  on  to  that  high  goal  that  will 
make  this  present  worthy  of  her  past. 


15 


EDITORIAL  TIMES-DISPATCH   MAY    11,    1911. 
TAPS. 

Hundreds  of  people  here  yesterday  wandered  back  over  the 
years  to  a  nation  that  was.  Enwrapping  themselves  in  sacred 
memories  of  the  Confederacy,  a  mere  handful  of  gray-haired  vet- 
erans and  some  of  those  who  were  the  girls  they  left  behind  them 
scattered  the  purple  and  white  flowers  of  everlasting  remem- 
brance upon  the  sod  where  heroes  lie  sleeping.  It  was  of  these 
dead  that  Grady  said  "on  every  ragged  gray  cap  the  Lord  God 
Almighty  laid  the  sword  of  His  imperishable  knighthood." 

It  was  an  impressive  scene — Memorial  Day  at  Oakwood — 
one  that  brought  a  mist  to  the  eyes  not  only  of  those  of  the  fading 
generation,  but  likewise  to  the  generation  that  is.  It  was  on  such 
a  beautiful  day  that  the  very  flower  of  the  South  marched  past 
the  noble  womanhood  of  their  country,  saluting  them  with  a 
"mori-turi  te,  salutamus,"  that  for  calm  courage  has  no  like  in 
the  history  of  the  world.  The  green  fields  that  lay  near  Oak- 
wood  in  the  peace  and  beauty  of  yesterday  afternoon — across 
those  same  war-scared  fields  once  rode  the  gray  immortals  of  Lee. 

The  band  playing  softly  that  majestic  anthem,  "The  Son  of 
God  Goeth  Forth  to  War" — the  handful  of  veterans,  still  erect 
and  still  soldiers — "Dixie"  fervidly  sung  by  the  little  descend- 
ants— the  women  of  the  Confederacy,  those  who  lived  in  it  and 
those  who  have  learned  the  undying  story  at  the  knee  of  a  re- 
membering mother,  those  who  are  still,  as  they  were  half  a  cen- 
tury ago  ever  alive  to  the  service  of  their  brothers  and  to  the  per- 
petuation of  patriotic  devotion — the  impressive  invocation  by 
Dr.  Smith,  the  last  survivor  of  the  staff  of  Stonewall  Jackson — 
the  address  of  General  Cox,  one  of  the  few  surviving  Confederate 
generals,  who  spoke  with  a  voice  that  made  one  imagine  what  a 
captain  he  must  have  been  among  the  hosts — the  salutes  of  the 
Howitzers  and  the  First  Regiment — the  flowers,  here  a  few  vio- 
lets, there  a  garland  of  roses,  each  equal  in  affectionate  memory — 
and  then  that  sweetest  of  all  the  farewells  that  the  soldier  knows, 


16 

the  slow,  soft,  consoling,  "All's  well"  of  taps,  sounding  through 
the  trees  and  faintly  echoing  in  the  valleys  beyond. 

Then  the  tribute  to  the  sailors  out  on  the  James,  golden  with 
the  light  of  the  parting  day,  with  the  deafening  thunder  of  the 
salute  of  the  Howitzers'  guns  on  Libby  Hill,  filling  the  slope  with 
the  blue  haze  of  artillery  smoke,  while  the  sun  sank  behind  the 
clouds  as  crimson  as  the  red  banner  of  the  Confederacy. 

It  is  such  an  occasion  that  causes  men  to  turn  reverently  to 
the  past  and  hold  in  loyal  remembrance  its  lessons  of  courage,  of 
love  of  country,  of  honor,  and  of  patient  submission.  The  pas- 
sions and  the  hatreds  of  that  great  conflict  have  passed  away; 
great  memories  impel  us  only  now  to  seek  to  imitate  in  peace 
those  virtues  of  which  the  men  and  women  of  the  Confederacy 
gave  so  luminous  an  example  in  war  and  in  the  grisly  troop  of 
circumstances  that  followed  in  its  woeful  wake. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00032757669 

FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


'-'■'■■■•■....  •'•:  / 


